Why don't I...

Steve C Cronin

Steve C Cronin

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Move my boat to Oz, cruise it in our winter and let my second cousin look after it and use it when we're not there? She lives close to a major marina and is a competent sailor being the daughter of an RNVR officer and the grand-daughter of an Ex RN Officer. It IS named after her great grandmother, after all!

That way I get both the hemispheres' summers.

Anyone know of any legal or administrative snags? Marina fees on a par with Corfu.
 
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Moving your boat to Oz will take a year. Then you'll have to deal with the Oz paperwork and expense. Spose you could give/sell your boat to your cousin and maybe she could import it in her name?! Lorra research coming up!
 
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We seriously considered keeping our yacht in Australia permanently after we sailed it there a couple of years ago, though eventually we decided to sell. However, as far a memory allows I can tell you the pitfalls.

On arrival in Australia your yacht has to be inspected by various agencies, the most expensive of which is Quarantine. Bringing your yacht in long-term they are likely to require a full termite inspection which can cost $A1,000+.

Next your yacht will have to be imported. I went through this procedure two years ago. You have to find (and pay) an agent to deal with the customs clearance for you, also find (and pay) a surveyor to value your yacht, which will be set close to the market value of the yacht in Australia. It helps to find a sympathetic agent and surveyor. I believe we paid approx. 20% of the valuation in total to cover all the costs of import duties.

Given this, it may make more sense to buy a yacht out there, though we did think prices are comparatively high.

To visit Australia yourself you need a visitor's visa (visa subgroup 600), which cost us each $A130 for the 12-month version: the clock starts the moment the visa is issued. Be warned there is some restriction on revisiting when the visa expires - you should check this. (For example, in NZ technically you are only allowed to visit for 6 months in any 24. The rule won't be the same in Oz though).

The east coast of Australia is an interesting cruising ground provided you are happy with long passages between destinations, but because it is essentially either north (as far as the Whitsundays) or south (as far as Tasmania), we felt might become stale after a few years. However there is always the possibility of crossing to New Zealand, and from there visiting the Pacific islands.

Some places get very crowded in January, the peak holiday month. In places around Sydney and the Gold Coast summer marina charges for a pontoon berth are considerably higher than even Corfu. But note that some "marinas" consist largely or entirely of patrolled moorings: the price of those is comparable to Corfu, but no electricity of course.
 
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Straightforward trip. Probably willing free delivery crew here if you fancy? I'd hop along to Gib smartish this year or better a few weeks earlier next year, but in any case b gone before National Day in Gib Sept 10th at the very latest, then go to Las Palmas having (if it's next year) already applied and joined the ARC in Jan 15 for the Nov 2015 event, so park up in LP with much cheapness for bout 2.5 month and then ARC (or cancel and get refund) anyways thence to St martin to join my massive stash of disel tanks, and in Jan on to Panama, thence Tahiti, New Cal and Oz. Use CGA-CGM agents in Fr Poly for $350 of so so no bond needed. This takes about 12months.
 
Importing the boat consists of 2 parts. Duty and GST. Duty is 5% on the value of the boat delivered to Aus. I don't think they count costs of getting there on its own bottom but they do count shipping costs. GST is 10% of the duty paid price.

Valuation is difficult. They don't just use local boat prices as a ref because most local boats being sold already have a duty and GST component. If you have a recent bill of sale then that is a good starting point and it can be discounted by time. As another poster has mentioned, there are agents who do this, they are not so hard to find, it depends where you do the procedure.

A quarantine inspection is needed. If you sailed the boat in then they want to see any fresh food and will probably require fruit from elsewhere to be destroyed. However their major target is insects and wood borers in particular. If the boat was built in Europe and did not transit certain areas of the world (can't say exactly which, but I think transit thru Panama would ring bells), they will probably settle for a close visual inspection. If not, then a full fumigation will be needed and this may cost $2k or more.

There were many boats, sail and mobo, imported in the 2-4yrs following the GFC when they could be purchased cheaply in USA due to distress sales and some from Europe. It helped that the A$ was very strong then. Frankly, unless your boat is very special I expect you would not find it a very attractive proposition as there are plenty of AWB imported boats available on the secondhand mkt.

On the other hand, if it is the 'getting there' which is attractive, then that will override much of the above.

Marina berths will cost about A$12k/pa in major cap cities for abt 40ft and convenient availability can be a problem. Swing moorings are about A$1.5k/pa for the same size (Sydney). Once again convenient location might be a problem but usually not if you have some flexibility. Casual marina rates up/down the E coast when cruising are anything from $30-$120 a night for 40ft depending upon location and in some cases, season. There are plenty of opportunities for fee anchoring when cruising, it depends on where you want to go and if you need water/food.
 
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